Dearest Nakama
by Shiva-Knight
Summary: The clock is ticking now that Luffy has exchanged his freedom for the one he cares for the most. Leaving behind hints and clues the Straw Hats try to decipher the bits and pieces that will lead up to their captain's freedom or death. Luffy/Robin


Disclaimer: You know the drill.

This section is sorely lacking a Luffy/Robin fanfiction, so I decided to make one. I do it for most of the shippings I love and are undershipped. CoughLee/Tentencough.

-Chapter 1-

Usopp laid the map down detailing all 50 layers of the World Government Fortress, painstakingly inked with the utmost care. "This is the fortress, better known as 'The Cradle of Justice' because most of the powerful people that the pirates fight have come from this fortress."

Luffy scanned the map, his usually carefree face in careful thought as he continued to find the jail cells. "She's not in those cells." Quizzically the Straw-Hat Captain looked up to find the Ex-Pirate Hunter gaze at the map before placing his finger at the center of the fortress. "She'll be here at the heart of it all… they're probably forcing her to translate all the tablets that they have gathered from all around the world right now."

Dragon's son grimaced at the very idea that any of his crewmembers were subjected to this treatment. He had already suffered a mental breakdown and he had healed, but only with the help of his beloved nakama. Sanji entered laying down tea and crackers upon the planning table that they had placed upon the lawn of the Thousand Sunny.

"It'll take at least 12 hours to reach the fortress it'll give us enough time to plan our atta-" Nami stopped talking as soon as Luffy raised his hand to pause her speech. "I already have my plan and none of you are coming with me." A cry of uproar came from the entire deck as all of his crew started to argue.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? THE CRADLE OF JUSTICE IS HOME TO SO MANY POWERFUL MEMBERS OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET OUT OF THERE ALIVE!" Franky and Nami had both run out of breath as they stopped yelling obscenities at their own captain.

Slowly the straw-hat wearer eye's crossed everybody else's before he closed his eyes and uttering his choice words. "I don't intend to." For a moment there was a deafening silence as the static of the waves were drowned out by absence. Luffy felt him self being slammed up against the wall by Zoro. "What the hell are you talking about?" he worded out piece by piece a look of fury upon his face.

"I don't intend to get out of the Cradle of Justice, not alive anyways." There he said it so they would stop asking him useless questions. Zoro's hands were replaced by a foot placed upon his chest by the cook "So why can't we join you in your little escapade of death?" smoke drifted down and slightly suffocated Luffy.

"We all know that if we all went in that none of us can come out, I can get through all 50 layers to our nakama and take her ou-" a hand re-grasped his neck, "Why the hell can't we go with you even if you know that you can't come back." Slowly he let the straw hat pick himself up and dusted himself.

"When I retrieve my nakama I won't have enough power to stop them from taking me back but I will have enough to send her all the way back out, and when she returns I don't want an empty ship to great her. I want her to be greeted by us, her family." He smiled brightly as he felt their emotions wash over him like a tide.

"Idiot." Nami mumbled as best as she could while wiping tears out of her eyes. The entire crew had tears in their eyes; Franky and Usopp were bawling their eyes out. Chopper was on the ground hugging himself as Zoro and Sanji both looked away from their captain. Brook simply sat down and seemed like a lifeless skeleton he wasn't.

"Why…" they all whispered to him at the same time. "She is my most precious nakama." His simple reply had made their hearts fall into despair even more at the lost of their captain, he was doing it selflessly and straight forwardly so it meant there was no deterring him from his plan.

"Everybody… lets eat!" Rough child-like laughter echoed across the entire ship to help them all forget about the events that were to transpire within 12 hours as they all smiled and partied through the entire night until the break of day. Luffy's mind had planned most of it out, while he didn't want to do this it was the only way he could save his dearest nakama.

He closed his eyes briefly to get some shuteye before day broke through and he spent the next 366 days in the heart of the most fortified place in all the seas. While he secretly hoped that his crew would figure out the gap he gave them to work with, he knew there was a chance they really might move on without him.

Luffy groggily opened his eyes as he realized that they had come within reach of the cradle. He stood back up and stretched himself a little before taking a look at the map that Usopp had compiled after a week of information gathering from the entire crew. There was an estimated 200,000 marines, more then 10 percent of which were captain level or had devil fruit abilities.

On top of that Admiral Aokiji had been assigned as Robin's caretaker to ensure her safety and her prison to be inescapable. With a bounty of over one billion belli he knew that he was a powerful force to be reckoned with, his entire crew's bounty combined was almost half his bounty.

Luffy knew his power had vastly grown, with each island and event that took place he felt this exciting and invigorating energy surge through him, granting him more power then he could imagine. In fact he could probably take on three Rob Lucci without breaking a sweat or going in 2nd or 3rd gear. His grandfather however, would most likely force him to use both a combination of his 2nd and 3rd gears.

Careful not to wake up the drunk and passed out crew members, he had anchored the ship and took the mini-Going Merry out and proceeded to sail towards the Cradle the last stretch, it ensured that his crew did not interfere as well as granting his nakama safe passage back to the ship.

Luffy's eyes scanned the horizon as he saw the towers light up in recognition of Monkey D. Luffy's presence. Cannon fire blew down all around him but he didn't mind, as he knew none of them would touch him for a fairly long time. He kept his eyes dead-set on the goal of the first gate and braced himself for the next 49 gates until he reached. Standing up on the mini-Going Merry he released his "great spirit and character" and could already see that most of the marines had passed out unconscious.

Walking up to the door he activated his Pirates Charisma right off the bat and the door flew upon as he was faced with thousands of Marines ready to pounce on him but they all simply passed out from his glare alone. He continued through to the second door busting it open and had the same effect happen again.

By the 8th gate he found that his "great spirit and character" had started to become less effective in the face of stronger and tougher marines. However they all started flying even if he had his hands in his pocket as they all felt his Jet Punches and Kicks. Bodies flew into the air crushing and breaking the stone architecture as the next 10 gates opened from a single kick of the rubber man.

Each gate was at least twice the size as the entrance gate at Enies Lobby but regardless of this fact they all fell as marines continued to fall unconscious or fly away by the mere strength and power of one pirate. Luffy continued his voiceless rampage knowing that it was the last 15 gates that he would have to worry about.

At the 36th gate he had stopped using his Pirate Charisma because it no longer affected marines of this caliber. This was where the devil fruit users would start showing up and he steeled himself for the 35th door to open. Within it he could only see people with an endless array of power.

"Move." His voice commanding and was thick with power, some of the marines started to suffocate as they felt his mere presence hindering their breathing while the rest felt power radiating off him and could feel their own powers wane slightly. Luffy took a single step forward as the first 6 rows of marines flew into the air crashing down upon their own allies.

A perfect circle about 100 meters in diameter with him as the mid point. It was kept simply by the others backing up or those who were brave enough to go even near him were blown back. He continued his trek blowing down gates and felt his power drain significantly, 2nd gear was starting to take its toll and he knew that he was going to use this 3rd gear for the last 5 gates.

Hands out of pockets he had used his double 3rd gear and enlarged both of his arms until they were the size of his own body. The gates 5-2 had all burst open from his kick and within he saw Cipher Pol and other various groups all armed to the teeth and ready to attack.

"Giant Jet Machine Gun!" A wave of giant punches literally crushed everything in front of him into grain as for anything organic they had been obliterated from a single punch. "Giant Jet Windmill!" Hooking his hands together he swung them in a full 360 degrees around his body causing a cyclone to start forming as it sucked people in and throttled them before shooting them out and crushing their bones from the impact. He stopped right before the last door; he glanced behind him for a moment and did not admire his slaughter. He could see the speck that was the mini-Going Merry and all around him he saw piles of bodies, dead or not he was unsure but he didn't care. They had taken his nakama, and that was unforgivable.

"Straw Hat." The unmistakable voice of Admiral Aokiji greeted him, "Impressive that you came here with nary a scratch but I think that's fairly sure to end soon." His eyes glanced upon Robin with her face contorted with anguish from the lonely weeks spent in this hellhole.

A single twitch and he felt ice eat away at his entire left arm as Aokiji simply smirked at him all-knowingly. Twisting vertically in mid-air he landed on his feet and turned off all his gears. He got into stance and then started to feel his muscles ripple and expand as he started to transform into Dream Luffy. "4th Gear."

Aokiji could barely blink before he felt himself flying away from the intense barrage of unrelenting punches. He couldn't dissolve into ice and avoid the damage because the intense heat was radiating off of Luffy had made it too hot to use his fruit's evasive powers. "Ice Spear!" using the butt and the front of the spear he could vastly reduce the pain of the punches be he felt his arm starting to numb up from the attacks. "Jet Bazooka." He stared out into space as he felt Luffy appear right next to him and punch him down into the ground.

Unsteadily he got himself back to his legs, he needed to win, there was no way he would let the potential Pirate King defeat him. His eyes widened in horror as he felt intense energy directed at him from Luffy who had blurred into existence in front of him. Slowly he saw that Luffy had returned to normal speed motions.

A slow punch came to rest at the joint where his thigh connected to his pelvis on his right side. "Jet Bazooka." Another came to mirror it upon his left one. "Jet Bazooka." Luffy raised his hand to the paralyzed Aokiji and made a slowly jab to the right arm of the ice devil fruit user. "Jet Bazooka." The arm retracted and aimed for the left arm as it slowly padded the arm. "Jet Bazooka." The hands came together in a huge upswing and then slowly tapped his chest where his heart would be. "Dream Jet Bazooka."

Aokiji fell to his knees; Luffy would have beaten him in 5 moves. He could only hear his heartbeat as he realized that he had no chance in the first place and fell onto the floor, all the muscles in his body paralyzed.

"WHY! WHY DID YOU COME AND SAVE ME? I WANT TO DIE!" his nakama had yelled at him beating her fist upon his normal chest and gearless body. "You said it yourself 'My life is now your responsibility.'" Tears welled up in her eyes as she held him fiercely, "please don't do this Luffy, please not for me. I don't deserve it!" She was hysterical now, pleading with him to let her go.

"Take care of this for me Robin." Luffy took off his hat and placed it upon her head all the while he kept his whimsical strength and affectionate tone. "You are my most precious nakama," he smiled and then gently placed a single kiss upon her quivering lips. "Goodbye." He whispered softly into her ear and then used the last of his energy to rip off the seastone cuffs upon her wrists then stretching his arm out to the length of the fortress. He placed her on the mini-Going Merry already prepped to use an impact dial he had placed at the back of the boat to send her straight to the Thousand Sunny. The entire time she had tears streaming down her eyes her eyes never leaving his grinning face that was so dear to her.

"DON'T DO THIS TO ME! YOU PROMISED ME! YOU PROMISED!" His grin faltered but he didn't move from his spot. He spoke loudly and deliberately, "I kept my promise! It's up to you keep the other promise!" She covered her mouth as more tears spilled out and found that tears were already going down his face. Then he collapsed upon the floor completely exhausted and spent.

The marines had already come to; most of the devil fruit users had stopped fearing him as soon as they felt all his power dissipate with the leaving of the Ohara Demon. Aokiji had stood up again as he felt the paralyzing effects of the strong energy ebb out of his body, there in his place was a small child-like Luffy who was completely bruised and beat.

"You win again Straw Hat."

-

"NO! DON'T DO THIS!" Pounding her fist upon the small ship as it sailed back to the Thousand Sunny. She multiplied her arm out and continuously spawned arm after arm to try to crawl back to the island. But she could only watch helplessly that after the 200th hand they started to disappear, her limit was reached and she couldn't save her captain and precious one.

The ship eventually retracted into the fourth port of the Thousand Sunny as the other crewmembers suddenly woke up from their slumber due to a miserable wailing from the port. Quickly they all looked around to try to get their bearings straight only to realize that their captain had left… if they were right then…

Quickly all 7 members rushed down to meet their 8th member. Opening doors, racing down hall ways and chaotic screaming was put to full force as they quickly descended to the dock and found a shivering Robin huddled upon the mini-Going Merry crying and sobbing her heart out continuing to clutch onto the straw hat in her arms.

They could only watch for a moment before leaving her alone with Nami, she needed time to heal and the only person that could heal her had already taken her place. They would have gone with their captain to the pits of hell, but this was an order and they were his crew so they could not refuse.

One by one everyone left leaving only Sanji, Nami and Robin. By this point Robin had started to drift into unconsciousness and closed her eyes getting her first piece of slumber in more then 2 days. "Poor thing cried herself to sleep, Sanji help me carry her." Nodding at her command the chef picked up the girl and followed Nami into Robin's bedroom.

Placing her down on her bed they both sat on stools near it, "Damn that Luffy, look what he made her do." Sanji muttered slightly frustrated knowing that even if he tried to stop their captain he wouldn't be able to last very long. "Don't dwell on it Sanji, Luffy isn't known for leaving his crew for long. All we can do now is sit tight and wait for a sign or something to get him out or get us in."

Black Legs continued to stare at the sleeping form of Robin for a moment, his train of thought revolving around his captain and the crew's historian. "We're adrift right now, so we need to decide where to go next. This'll help us get our wits together again now that we have no captain, and I need you to leave so that I can change Robin's clothes."

A light blush colored his cheeks before he coughed slightly, "Yeah, of course Nami-chan." She smiled briefly at him as he departed the room. Nami turned back down to Robin as she heard he moan in her sleep. "Lu…ffy…please…pleas…don't…" more incoherent words followed with the occasional real word in between but the grip on the hat never stopped.

"Come on Luffy, Robin's crying out for you even when you're not here. Dumbass, you better no screw up or I'll hate you for it too. She's probably beating herself up for this so you need to come back soon." She spoke quietly to herself and no one at the same time before removing the hat with some resistance from the unconscious body; she hefted Robin up and stripped her down before redressing her in her largest pajamas.

After placing a blanket over Robin's sleeping form and replacing the hat in the original spot Nami stood up and blew out the lamp as she left the room. Upon reaching the deck she found everyone in solemn silence but she knew what was on their minds. "She's fine." A wave of relief flowed thru all the crewmembers as they sighed that their worries had just ended or in some cases just started.

"Now that Luffy is gone, who's the captain?" Usopp jumped up and was ready to instate himself but Zoro had already knocked him down. "No Captain, the only reason any of us joined in the first place was because of Luffy. No one takes over, either he's the captain or there is no Straw Hats." Nearly everyone nodded in agreement, Usopp did nod as well but he did it begrudgingly.

"Well, where do we head next Nami?" All eyes turn to her as she nervously looks around. Slowly she remembered something… during the party while she was half-drunk Luffy handed her something. _Keep it in your pocket, _were his words. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an eternal post.

Everybody around looked at it suspiciously, they didn't remember getting an eternal post at any point of their travel. "Luffy. I think Luffy gave this to me when he was making all of us forget." Franky and Brook both turned around before Brook started playing the violin with a depressing song.

Smacking him over the head Franky was annoyed, "Don't do that it, makes things seem worse then they actually do!" "Where does the eternal post lead to Nami-chan?" Sanji inquired, his interest piqued at the sudden appearance of the post.

After examining the post for a moment she lowered it to waist level and told the crew. "Alabasta, this eternal post leads to Alabasta." "TO ALABASTA IT IS!" Franky and Chopper both set off to adjust the rudder accordingly while Usopp changed the sail and mast a bit.

"Is this what Luffy really wanted us to do? Go to Alabasta?" She spoke quietly to herself, hoping that no one would over hear her self-conversation. She was never good at hiding things from Sanji though. "Well, it's a better guess and option than anything else we have right now right?" He smiled at her and she smiled softly back, "Yeah."

The entire crew all set sail to Alabasta to unravel this mystery that their Captain had left behind. Unbeknownst to them that the rabbit hole was far deeper then they expected it to be.

-Chapter 1-

Like Remembrance and Unknowingly, this is also experimental. Just a pilot to a bunch of chapters I will eventually post within a few months. What do you think? No bad eh? Needs more Luffy/Robin though.

Dearest Nakama – Chapter 2 in progress

Remembrance – 3 Chapters Done

The Auction – Chapter 3 in progress

Unknowingly – Chapter 2 Done, Chapter 3 in progress

-New Story (Digimon)- Chapter 1 in progress

-New Story (Bleach)- Planning

-New Story (D.Gray-man)- Planning

-New Story (Love Hina)- Planning

-New Story (Samurai Champloo)- Planning

-New Story (Final Fantasy Tactics)- Potential


End file.
